Per Gurnick:

Dodgers crying Wolf as market moves

>> Wolf has long topped the Dodgers' list and Colletti has a solid relationship with Wolf's agent, Arn Tellem, but apparently the sides will remain apart until the Mets sign a pitcher.

The Mets have been negotiating most aggressively with Oliver Perez, leaving Wolf and Ben Sheets as their backup choices. The Mets are presumed to have more money to spend than the Dodgers, so Wolf apparently won't lower his asking price for the Dodgers until he no longer has the Mets as leverage. <<

http://tinyurl.com/bpalu3

1 I wish they'd just sign Sheets and be done with this.

Per Tony Jackson

Winter of baseball's discontent

>> "This has been the oddest offseason I've ever been a part of," said Wolf, who was a free agent the past two winters as well. "I don't know where I stand with any team.

"I've had multiple deals offered and taken off the table, offers made and then reduced. I will have no idea where I stand until there's a pen and paper in front of me and I sign my name. Until then, I just feel a deal can be taken away or reduced at any time." <<

http://insidesocal.com/dodgers/

In case anyone missed it...

BA Top 10
1. Andrew Lambo
2. James McDonald
3. Ethan Martin
4. Josh Lindblom
5. Scott Elbert
6. Ivan DeJesus, Jr.
7. Devaris Gordon
8. Josh Bell
9. Chris Withrow
10. Nathan Eovaldi

Projected 2012 Lineup
Catcher: Russell Martin
First Base: James Loney
Second Base: Blake DeWitt
Third Base: Josh Bell
Shortstop: Rafael Furcal
Left Field: Andrew Lambo
Center Field: Matt Kemp
Right Field: Andre Ethier

No. 1 Starter: Clayton Kershaw
No. 2 Starter: Chad Billingsley
No. 3 Starter: Hiroki Kuroda
No. 4 Starter: James McDonald
No. 5 Starter: Josh Lindblom
Closer: Jonathan Broxton

4 Don't think DeJesus will break though with the Dodgers?

5 I was surprised by that as well.

I don't see Kuroda in the rotation in 2012. Elbert, perhaps.

7 Dodgers could sign him to an extension if he's still effective. $10 million or so for a number 3 is incredibly cheap in this day and age.

8

He'll be 37 in 2012. No, thanks.

Best Tools
Best Hitter for Average: Lambo
Best Power Hitter: Bell
Best Strike-Zone Discipline: DeJesus
Fastest Baserunner: Gordon
Best Athlete: Gordon
Best Fastball: Lindblom
Best Curveball: Elbert
Best Slider: Travis Schlichting
Best Changeup: McDonald
Best Control: McDonald
Best Defensive Catcher: A.J. Ellis
Best Defensive Infielder: Gordon
Best Infield Arm: Pedro Baez
Best Defensive Outfielder: Jamie Hoffmann
Best Outfield Arm: Xavier Paul

I love the best infielder going to a guy who made a gazillion errors in half a season of rookie ball. Gordon seems to have really impressed quite a few scouts. May be quite a nugget.

If AJ Ellis is our best defensive catcher why isn't he somebodies backup catcher?

11 "He has plus range to both sides, a solid arm and the actions of a big league shortstop."

It also said Gordon runs the 60-yard dash in 6.3 seconds and can dunk a basketball despite being 5'11"

On Eovaldi:

"...in his final outing of the summer, he didn't throw a pitch under 94 and hit 96 mph 20 times."

3. Hey Randy, you can solve that problem by accepting one of those offers. Also, if the Mets sign Perez, don't you think the Dodgers will reduce their current offer?

11 Because the Dodgers love intangibles such as great beard, played in the majors for the last 18 years, must not be able to throw a baseball, 'provide veteran leadership despite not playing a game in two weeks.'

I must have missed the Bobblehead #1 reveal. I laughed.

About "Best Curveball: Elbert," I have been wanting to raise something as a topic of discussion for a while, but the time never seemed right. Who thinks that Elbert's breaking pitch is actually a curveball? He throws that thing at 83 MPH everytime -- too hard for a curve. That's a slider. MLB Gameday always identified it as a slider when Elbert was in the majors. The first Baseball America report on Elbert after he was drafted, in the 2005 Prospect Handbook, says he scrapped his curve in favor of a mid-80's slider. Yet, in the last few years, BA has been calling his breaking pitch a curve. What gives?

Jim Callis was asked in his ESPN chat today about UNC right-hander Alex White:

I'm just getting geared up for the Early Draft Preview that will run in our next issue that goes to press. White is the No. 2 starting pitching prospect in this draft, behind Stephen Strasburg, and is a lock for the first five picks

The Dodgers drafted White out of high school in 2006, but were unable to come to contract terms.

Colletti says nothing new in Manny Ramirez talks

>> Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa said signing Ramirez is key.

"Without Manny in the lineup, I won't say we can't score runs but we'll be like we were at the beginning of last year," Bowa said, referring to a period when the Dodgers struggled offensively. "Manny is sort of that constant in that lineup. With the kids, you don't know what you're going to get." <<

http://tinyurl.com/b4rswu

Fangraphs has posted a Marcel projection for Cory Lidle for 2009. Sadly, I don't think he'll be able to throw 59 innings with an ERA of 4.65.

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=926&position=P

20
Oh jeez, that's unfortunate.

19 -- Larry Bowa Gump: "The kids are like a box of chocolates..."

Paul Hackett is now the Raiders QB coach. This amuses me to no end.

17
I always thought it was a slider.

I very much approve of the referee outfit Padma wear, that Sam was referring to.

She wears it better than anyone...well maybe except Ed Hochuli.

*wears

25
She wears it better than anyone...well maybe except Ed Hochul

That cracked me up. Very nice.

Where's the Raiders????

Is it wrong to wish bodily harm to Flo, the lady from the Progressive auto insurance commercials?

29 -- Yes, she seems like she would be fun to be around.

Well, I wish harm upon the Freecreditreport.com band. And that is a whole band.

Nice to see Camille again. I always thought she was pretty yet completely anonymous.

And Carla makes it to another episode.

Uggh.

And she gets to go to the Super Bowl.

Double ugggggh.

My comment last night that troubled Eric was a reaction to the notion that Carla was going to throw together a 20 minute gumbo.

And of course then she goes ahead and wins.

New photos of stadium improvements up at the Dodgers official site. I guess it hadn't sunk in with me how much foul territory the new seating ate up.

30
I agree

About Bowa's Manny lobbying - the coach is a loose cannon, so I can see him just bringing this out when in contact with a reporter. However, in a conspiracy model I would wonder if Torre is sending him out as his hatchet-man to work on McCourt.

I would say Boras is at the root of any conspiracy, but I don't know if he employs ex-coaches and if he did I doubt he would hire someone as un-subtle at Bowa (plus Bowa doesn't strike me as one to do that sort of favor). So, Boras can only be reaping the windfall benefits of his stall.

You can find about more about Flo:
http://www.austin360.com/tv/content/tv/stories/2008/10/1020progressive.html

who is played by a former member of the Groundlings.

So what do you guys think, will Manny settle for 2 years, even with Bowa lobbying? (He is right on by the way) I think the Dodgers are truly the only player in this, but the thought of Manny "settling" is worse than anything.

Here's my thoughts on it:
http://sfdodgerfan.com/why-manny-ramirez-should-sign-for-2-years-an-option/

29 She makes me want to bite something.

FWIW, from Dan Patrick's "sources" they said the Dodgers next move is to offer Manny a 1 year 27 million dollar contract. That way Manny saves face and plays his butt off for his next contract.

42
I thought Dan Patrick's main source was Reggie Miller. :)

42 , 43

I thought it was a ouija board ...

38 Or Bowa is positioning himself to take over when Joe loses the clubhouse credibility with his current team.

I need to choose a number for my softball jersey, but I am not emotionally connected to any one number. Any suggestions? I was thinking 55

46 My number of choice has always been 6.

How fitting the headline of the post is about McDonald.... My office mate (she likes baseball, but not blogging about them anytime soon) mentions that in her University of Phoenix online class, there is a gentlemen in her class named James McDonald. Turns out, its Dodgers P James McDonald's father. He played TE for the Lambs (49ers fan here) back in the 80's, and played at USC before that. I told her I would have a list of questions for her to give Mr. McDonald, so if anyone has some good ones, go ahead and post them.

Show Manny the $$$!!!

46
Succumb to random chance!

http://random.org/integers/

Hey Jon,

Since you posted the pictures of you catching the fly ball your comment section doesn't fit on the screen and is blocked by the right side of the site. Can you address it so we can read everything please.

48 In the spirit of Super Week ask him how long he's been a black pitcher... actually don't.

We have a delivery this morning to DS. I could not help but go look in the boxes to see what was being delivered. No smoking gun, nothing from the Mitchell report. Just a bunch of books about the Negro Leagues they are probably going to put for sale in the store.

They paid for the expensive service on a particular domestic airline. What is the rush? I could not imagine a million people coming in to buy items this time of year.

46 I usually wore #5 but since I wasn't very good you might want to avoid it. #4 is bad luck in China but since you probably won't play there it shouldn't be a problem.

Why not pick your all time favorite Dodger and use his number?

52
Maybe they get a good bulk rate? Although you would probably be able to see that, right?

50 - How's that?

Really a head scratcher when you figuer what Randy Johnson signed for compared to what Garland signed for.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/dbacks-sign-garland-why

55 I'm having the same problem. The margins are all skewed off to the side, and the sidebar covers the right side of all the posts. It only happens on the main DT page though, when I click inside a post, everything goes back to normal.

57 No such problem on FireFox 3.0.5 or Safari 3.2.1 on the Mac. You should tell Jon which browser you're using as it must be browser-specific.

57 58 Internet browser is probably not the only factor causing the problem. Screen resolution and monitor size probably plays a large role also.

I've hidden the pics so I can't think of any reason there should still be a problem.

57 A common problem with AOL when website changes are made using certain applications. AOL also remembers old data so loggin off and logginf back on may not allow AOL to recognize the website changes

60
For the record, I am having the same issue, though it is not a problem when I click on the comments and it just shows the most recent post...

54 It was only about 10 boxes. Maybe 80 books. I guess $105 savings on general cargo vs. express for this shipment is nothing to them. Probably only saved them one day of transit time.

They probably waste so much money on little things like this over the course of a year.

[49

Hmmm. 38 is the first number I got. I always like Orel and Russel with 55, but I have an Ethier jersey with 16.

I might just go with my son's birth date 12

48 Could ask James how James Jr feels about relieving vs. starting. (No, I'm kidding. I stopped caring about that awhile ago.)

Maybe ask how he's prepping for a big spring training. And has he learned anything since last year?

62 - Again, as far as I can tell, I think the problem must be on your end now. You might need to clear a cache or cookie or whatnot. I don't think there is anything for me to do at this point.

Clearing the cache on your browser is a spot-on suggestion. I'd imagine that would solve the problem.

Eekrock,

That was a wicked strike. Van Persie's form has been one of the few bright spots.

Glad to hear the book is on it's way, too, Jon.

Too bad Jimmy Mac is starting out in the pen, but at least he's going to be up with the big boys.

66
I just did that and everything is working fine.

I really like blaming my problems on others, so this was a bit of a blow. You can apologize if you feel like you should. :)

48 Big James was a heck of a Little League coach, too, I have to add.

Tell him "Snack Shack", his catcher on the LL Major Giants says what up.

NPUT

56. I think Cameron over-reacts (which is his style at USSM) on this one a bit. 3-year weighted win values of 3.02 for Randy Johnson and 3.00 for Jon Garland. Garland is much younger, less likely to get hurt, less likely to have a huge drop off in production, and more likely to pitch more innings. This signing gives the Diamondbacks four good to great innings eating pitchers, which will in turn give the Diamondbacks less starting pitcher innings from replacement level pitchers. Which in turn, keeps your high leverage bullpen arms from getting worn out. I think the Garland signing was good for them. A RJ signing would've been good too. I just don't see the logic in Cameron's argument that the "Diamondbacks screwed up their entire offseason" with this signing.
vr, Xei